Adam McKay’s “Don’t Look Up” is more than just a subtle nod that strikes a chord in its viewers about how not so subtle the end of the world is. This star studded satire truly goes to show that despite everything that conspires, the only true hero of the story is Jonah Hill’s character, Jason Orlean’s Hermès Birkin bag, a bourgeois must have.
The movie follows the story of two low-level astronomers from Michigan, Dr. Mindy and Kate Dibiasky who make an unnerving discovery: a comet heading towards earth in exactly 6 months and 14 days. In the aftermath of this discovery, due to the lack of sincere efforts from the President on the issue, the two go on from one media channel to other, warning people about the consequences of an extinction level comet such as this, only for one to be dubbed ‘The Bedroom Eyes Doomsday Prophet’ and the other to end up a meme. The casual ignorance, the serious dismissal of scientific evidence, reminds one of a quote by Issac Asimov: ‘The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge’.
A well written story that touches not only on the issue at hand but also several other themes like social media, pop culture, technology, politics, capitalism and climate change. The movie shows that media companies care more about profits than telling the truth, that politicians are the mouthpiece of the truly wealthy and that repeated stifling of all those that choose not to conform to the agenda of those in powerful positions are all part of the game. These themes are explored in a rather tongue in cheek manner than insightful. But then again, the entire point of the movie was to let us know that “We’re all going to die”. Somehow this begs the question: who really is the intended audience? Because we all know, as much as the extinction is real, every Tom, Dick, and Harry are as responsible for climate change as they are to authorise a nuclear attack. While I don’t intend to dismiss the individual effort in climate change, it is only plausible to acknowledge the substantial change that capitalists and their corporations could bring to the table.
The movie makes it easier for its viewers to come to terms with the idea of extinction by creating one that is all encompassing as a comet. In reality however, the extinction is going to be one that is far more gradual and lugubrious than 8 AM classes on a Monday. To a pragmatic person, this comes off as utopic and that does not help the movie rating.
A solid 2.5 stars, the movie is definitely refreshing with cinematography that Timothee Chalamet’s character, Yule, would describe as “meh”. All in all, a one time watch, “Don’t Look Up” reiterates what we know and always have known: Jonah Hill is occasionally funny, Meryl Streep would probably be a better president than her character and we’re all going to die.
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